Maps of Music

Loud (2010)

Where the lyrics of Loud take you, and where it was really made.

Loud was built as a return to the bright, up-tempo sound of Rihanna's first two albums, after the darker Rated R.

Key places

Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles (2010)

Recording site Westlake Recording Studios — Loud was recorded at several Los Angeles studios, and Westlake Recording Studios is one of them. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Village Recorder, Los Angeles (2010)

Recording site Village Recorders — The Village Recorder in Los Angeles is named among the studios where the album was recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Larrabee Sound Studios, Los Angeles (2010)

Recording site Larrabee Sound Studios — Larrabee Sound Studios in Los Angeles is named among the studios where the album was recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Platinum Sound Recording Studios, New York City (2010)

Recording site Platinum Sound Recording Studios — Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City is named among the studios where the album was recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Bunker Studios, Paris (2010)

Recording site Pathé Marconi studios — The Bunker Studios in Paris is named among the studios where the album was recorded; the pin sits at city-center level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Loud: fifth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna
• Released November 12, 2010 by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records
• Rihanna and L.A. Reid served as executive producers
• Producers include Stargate, Sandy Vee, The Runners, Tricky Stewart and Alex da Kid
• Guests include Drake, Nicki Minaj and Eminem, who appears on "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)"
• Primarily a dance-pop and R&B record

Background

• Follows Rated R (2009), which has a foreboding, angry tone and dark themes
• Rated R was commercially successful and spawned six singles
• Six months after Rated R, Rihanna began planning a fifth studio album, promising more energetic material
• Loud brings back the bright, optimistic sound of Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006)
• Title announced in September 2010 during a webchat with fansite Rihannadaily.com

Recording

• Recorded between February and August 2010
• Made during the Last Girl on Earth tour (2010–2011) and the filming of her first feature film Battleship
• Rihanna and L.A. Reid assembled songwriters and producers in Los Angeles for two weeks
• About 200 songs were written in these sessions, and eleven of them made the album
• Def Jam rented nearly every recording studio in Los Angeles to create as many songs as possible

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career beginnings

• Robyn Rihanna Fenty, born February 20, 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados
• Signed with Def Jam Recordings in 2005 after an audition for Jay-Z and Antonio "L.A." Reid
• Debut album Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl Like Me (2006) both reached the US Billboard 200 top ten
• "SOS" became her first US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single

Peak pop era

• Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) marked a shift to dance-pop and R&B and is her best-selling album, with about nine million copies sold
• "Umbrella", "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia" each topped the Billboard Hot 100
• Rated R (2009), Loud (2010), Talk That Talk (2011) and Unapologetic (2012) followed
• Unapologetic was her first US Billboard 200 number-one album

Later career

• Moved from Def Jam to Roc Nation; Anti (2016) became her second US number-one album
• Headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show in February 2023, the most-watched halftime show in history
• Has released sporadic singles since 2016 and acted in films including Battleship (2012), Ocean's 8 (2018) and Smurfs (2025)
• Sales estimated above 250 million records

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critics gave positive reviews, praising the upbeat material and Rihanna's vocal performances
• Some critics found the songs solid but unfocused as a set
• Jon Pareles of The New York Times heard a "hermetic, cool calculation" on the album
• Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said Loud shows Rihanna undefeated by her worst circumstances
• Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal praised the album's effervescent pop
• AllMusic's Andy Kellman gave a mixed review and called the material uneven
• Metacritic average score of 67, based on 22 reviews

Records

• Debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 with 207,000 first-week sales, her highest first-week sales in the US at that time
• Debuted at number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart
• Debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart with 27,000 first-week copies
• UK: debuted at number two, then reached number one in its seventh week
• Peaked at number one in Canada, Switzerland and the UK
• Debuted at number two on the German Albums Chart; peaked at number eleven in Italy
• Third consecutive number-one album for Rihanna in Switzerland
• Canada: platinum by the first week of December 2010
• France: debuted at number three; platinum status by its sixth week on the chart
• UK: certified eight-times platinum by the BPI
• US: certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA as of May 2024
• Eighth global best-selling album of 2011 according to IFPI
• Over 8 million copies sold worldwide
• Lead single "Only Girl (In the World)" won Best Dance Recording at the 53rd Grammy Awards; the album received three more nominations, including Album of the Year

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Rihanna was asked by the show's producers to tone down her Brit Awards 2011 performance of "S&M", so she sang only one verse and chorus.
• The Ultra Couture Edition sold out and is no longer available on Amazon or her online store.
• The Japanese edition included two additional remixes of "Only Girl (In the World)".
• An explicit version was released with a Parental Advisory label because of some lyrical content.
• "Man Down" peaked at number one in France for five consecutive weeks.
• Rihanna described "Raining Men" as a fun song that differs from the 1979 Weather Girls single with a similar title.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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